Hello Forum: I am a novice having a hard time getting hired w/out any driving experience. I am just out of school - have class A CDL. I was thinking about getting my own truck, but have a very poor credit rating. Any advice on how to obtain my own truck? Lease purchase agreement? Any other advice? Thanks very much! Bruce
How can get own truck w/out gd credit?
- Thread starter bruceswan
- Start date
I agreee with Dave.. You have to be very careful with a lease purchase. There are a few companies out there that will finance you. I will caution you on those as well.. Be careful of what your payment will be. You do not want to live for your truck. And before you get into a contract...Make sure you are qualified with the company you choose...
Good Luck!!
Good Luck!!
D Team Brothers
Expert Expediter
Bruce: With very little or no experience I offer the following advice:
Do not buy or lease your own truck! The economy is still questionable, many experienced O/O's are giving up or losing their trucks because of this.
Find a company that is looking for team drivers. Team up with an experienced driver and get experience in both driving and what the trucking industry future looks like.
JMO; Jack
Do not buy or lease your own truck! The economy is still questionable, many experienced O/O's are giving up or losing their trucks because of this.
Find a company that is looking for team drivers. Team up with an experienced driver and get experience in both driving and what the trucking industry future looks like.
JMO; Jack
My therory is If you cant afford it dont buy it.I am sorry to be blunt.
1 This is a business therefore you need working capital, some what of a decent credit rating.
2 You have no experence, the only folk's going to give you a truck on lease or credit. Will charge you an arm and a leg hoping that you fail before the time the note is due.
3 Take these guys advice try finding an O/O who is looking for a co driver.I am not trying to offend you in anyway just trying to help you from being taken advantage of. Good Luck
1 This is a business therefore you need working capital, some what of a decent credit rating.
2 You have no experence, the only folk's going to give you a truck on lease or credit. Will charge you an arm and a leg hoping that you fail before the time the note is due.
3 Take these guys advice try finding an O/O who is looking for a co driver.I am not trying to offend you in anyway just trying to help you from being taken advantage of. Good Luck
arkjarhead
Veteran Expediter
Another thing that hasn't been mentioned here is alot of truckload carriers used to advertise lease purchase with no money down. I don't know if they do it any more. It's generally a used tractor and by time you get through making all the lease payments you've put so many miles on it it's not worth keeping. That's if you get to the end of your lease. Or they can do you like they did my cousin and cut your miles way back just and few months before your lease is out and then repo the truck.
Let's say you lease with one of these truckload carriers, and let's just say everything goes well and you make it to the end of the lease. You'll have a truck that when you got into it wasn't taken care because chances are someone that didn't know how to take care of the truck put about 500,000 miles on the truck. Then you'll put about another 400,000 to finish the lease. Now the truck has 900,000 miles on it. That's ok for a truck that's been well taken care of since day 1, but this one hasn't. So now the truck is yours right and at least you can take it to the Freightliner or International delaership and trade it in and put that money you got in savings on a down payment for a newer truck right?
WE'RE NOT DONE ON THE LEASE PARTNER! YOU DIDN'T MAKE A DOWN PAYMENT SO NOW YOU GET TO MAKE AT LEAST A $20,000.00 BALLOON PAYMENT.
But guess what you've only been making about 90 cents per mile before you're deductions come out. Once all the deductions come out for everything you haven't made enough over three years to save $20,000.00. The only thing is they don't tell you about the balloon payment, but it's there in the real fine print.
Let's say you lease with one of these truckload carriers, and let's just say everything goes well and you make it to the end of the lease. You'll have a truck that when you got into it wasn't taken care because chances are someone that didn't know how to take care of the truck put about 500,000 miles on the truck. Then you'll put about another 400,000 to finish the lease. Now the truck has 900,000 miles on it. That's ok for a truck that's been well taken care of since day 1, but this one hasn't. So now the truck is yours right and at least you can take it to the Freightliner or International delaership and trade it in and put that money you got in savings on a down payment for a newer truck right?
WE'RE NOT DONE ON THE LEASE PARTNER! YOU DIDN'T MAKE A DOWN PAYMENT SO NOW YOU GET TO MAKE AT LEAST A $20,000.00 BALLOON PAYMENT.
But guess what you've only been making about 90 cents per mile before you're deductions come out. Once all the deductions come out for everything you haven't made enough over three years to save $20,000.00. The only thing is they don't tell you about the balloon payment, but it's there in the real fine print.
A sideboard trip:: Be ware of all trucking stories or expediting stories u here on how much money ur gonna make. No one ever really tells the truth on their bottom,,yep bottomline on a profit and loss statement is what u need to see . This will show how much someone really took home. Its the take home pay that counts, not the b. s. of ( How much someone made,,but what did u make after all expenses, if expediting is so great, everyone in the world would be out here, well its a thought,,,,personally,,overhead , overhead is what I have to watch,,every 5 bucks adds up............ps, drive for someone else for awhile..................sky
greg334
Veteran Expediter
Sky,
I know what you are saying, most make this out as a pleasure cruise and a lot, I MEAN A LOT OF PEOPLE think it is a way to make a quick buck in hard times.
The truth is hard to find and when you have someone speaking the truth, sometimes they are called mean or failures.
For this work my DH is up 40%, my profits are down 70% (big deal). My gross is 50% of what it was in 2008 but my expenses per mile are 24% from 2008 and this is with medical DOT clearance issues and other issues that prevented me from being on the road - like family and helping friends.
This is not my only income and 2009 was a wash from the beginning.
Would you like to share?
To answer the original poster's question, if I had a class A, I would be beating on the doors of some of the locals to see what you can get. GET experience and then think about this work.
Don't want to be a person trying to put a damper on what you want to do. Do not lease purchases!!! If you want to drive class A truck then I would like to suggest you go out to local company that have dump trucks try to get a job there. If you do then drive and learn how to handle one of those loaded not as easy as people think! Around six months ask if you could learn how to pull machinery on a trailer you need a class A to do that then you log every mile you pull one of those six months later go out and apply with companys that want experience.
Then should have a little cerdit bulding do a profit loss on the biss you want and fin. advice and legal then if you think it looks good jump in.
Then should have a little cerdit bulding do a profit loss on the biss you want and fin. advice and legal then if you think it looks good jump in.
I agree, drive for someone for about six months to get the experience. The best way to get your own truck without good credit is to save your money to buy a good truck. Also, once you make the last payment on your truck, save the money you been paying on your as if you have truck payments. This is because your truck will old someday and you will have money saved up for a good down payment on a newer truck.
I'm just sayin.
I'm just sayin.
nightcreacher
Veteran Expediter
You must of went to a truck driving school to have gotten your class A,they should of been able to get you hired somewhere.If you got the class A cdl on your own,then your going to need to get with a company that trains drivers,for example schneider,jb hunt,swift, just to name a couple
the reason your having trouble getting a job,is the insurance companies for most of the companies wont touch you,even if you own your own truck
The idea of going to a dump truck company runnning local,won't help either,you have to have over the road experience to get a job over the road.
the reason your having trouble getting a job,is the insurance companies for most of the companies wont touch you,even if you own your own truck
The idea of going to a dump truck company runnning local,won't help either,you have to have over the road experience to get a job over the road.